Psalms 56:6

56:6 They stalk ¹  and lurk; ² 

they watch my every step, ³ 

as ⁴  they prepare to take my life. ⁵ 

Psalms 109:2-3

109:2 For they say cruel and deceptive things to me;

they lie to me. ⁶ 

109:3 They surround me and say hateful things; ⁷ 

they attack me for no reason.

Genesis 4:6

4:6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast?

Genesis 4:1

The Story of Cain and Abel

4:1 Now ⁸  the man had marital relations with ⁹  his wife Eve, and she became pregnant ¹⁰  and gave birth to Cain. Then she said, “I have created ¹¹  a man just as the Lord did!” ¹² 

Genesis 23:1

The Death of Sarah

23:1 Sarah lived 127 years. ¹³ 

Genesis 23:1-2

The Death of Sarah

23:1 Sarah lived 127 years. ¹⁴  23:2 Then she ¹⁵  died in Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. ¹⁶ 

Genesis 17:2-4

17:2 Then I will confirm my covenant ¹⁷  between me and you, and I will give you a multitude of descendants.” ¹⁸ 

17:3 Abram bowed down with his face to the ground, ¹⁹  and God said to him, ²⁰  17:4 “As for me, ²¹  this ²²  is my covenant with you: You will be the father of a multitude of nations.

Jeremiah 11:19

11:19 Before this I had been like a docile lamb ready to be led to the slaughter.

I did not know they were making plans to kill me. ²³ 

I did not know they were saying, ²⁴ 

“Let’s destroy the tree along with its fruit! ²⁵ 

Let’s remove Jeremiah ²⁶  from the world of the living

so people will not even be reminded of him any more.” ²⁷ 

Jeremiah 18:23

18:23 But you, Lord, know

all their plots to kill me.

Do not pardon their crimes!

Do not ignore their sins as though you had erased them! ²⁸ 

Let them be brought down in defeat before you!

Deal with them while you are still angry! ²⁹ 

Matthew 26:3-4

26:3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people met together in the palace of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas. 26:4 They ³⁰  planned to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

Acts 23:14-15

23:14 They ³¹  went ³²  to the chief priests ³³  and the elders and said, “We have bound ourselves with a solemn oath ³⁴  not to partake ³⁵  of anything until we have killed Paul. 23:15 So now you and the council ³⁶  request the commanding officer ³⁷  to bring him down to you, as if you were going to determine ³⁸  his case ³⁹  by conducting a more thorough inquiry. ⁴⁰  We are ready to kill him ⁴¹  before he comes near this place.” ⁴² 

Acts 25:3

25:3 Requesting him to do them a favor against Paul, ⁴³  they urged Festus ⁴⁴  to summon him to Jerusalem, planning an ambush ⁴⁵  to kill him along the way.

[56:6]  ¹ tn The verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 59:3.

[56:6]  ² tn Or “hide.”

[56:6]  ³ tn Heb “my heels.”

[56:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “according to,” in the sense of “inasmuch as; since,” or “when; while.”

[56:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “they wait [for] my life.”

[109:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “for a mouth of evil and a mouth of deceit against me they open, they speak with me [with] a tongue of falsehood.”

[109:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “and [with] words of hatred they surround me.”

[4:1]  ⁸ tn The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) introduces a new episode in the ongoing narrative.

[4:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “the man knew,” a frequent euphemism for sexual relations.

[4:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “she conceived.”

[4:1]  ¹¹ tn Here is another sound play (paronomasia) on a name. The sound of the verb קָנִיתִי (qaniti, “I have created”) reflects the sound of the name Cain in Hebrew (קַיִן, qayin) and gives meaning to it. The saying uses the Qal perfect of קָנָה (qanah). There are two homonymic verbs with this spelling, one meaning “obtain, acquire” and the other meaning “create” (see Gen 14:19, 22; Deut 32:6; Ps 139:13; Prov 8:22). The latter fits this context very well. Eve has created a man.

[4:1]  ¹² tn Heb “with the Lord.” The particle אֶת־ (’et) is not the accusative/object sign, but the preposition “with” as the ancient versions attest. Some take the preposition in the sense of “with the help of” (see BDB 85 s.v. אֵת; cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV), while others prefer “along with” in the sense of “like, equally with, in common with” (see Lev 26:39; Isa 45:9; Jer 23:28). Either works well in this context; the latter is reflected in the present translation. Some understand אֶת־ as the accusative/object sign and translate, “I have acquired a man – the Lord.” They suggest that the woman thought (mistakenly) that she had given birth to the incarnate Lord, the Messiah who would bruise the Serpent’s head. This fanciful suggestion is based on a questionable allegorical interpretation of Gen 3:15 (see the note there on the word “heel”).

[23:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “And the years of Sarah were one hundred years and twenty years and seven years, the years of the life of Sarah.”

[23:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And the years of Sarah were one hundred years and twenty years and seven years, the years of the life of Sarah.”

[23:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Sarah.” The proper name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“she”) for stylistic reasons.

[23:2]  ¹⁶ sn Mourn…weep. The description here is of standard mourning rites (see K. A. Kitchen, NBD³ 149-50). They would have been carried out in the presence of the corpse, probably in Sarah’s tent. So Abraham came in to mourn; then he rose up to go and bury his dead (v. 3).

[17:2]  ¹⁷ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative indicates consequence. If Abram is blameless, then the Lord will ratify the covenant. Earlier the Lord ratified part of his promise to Abram (see Gen 15:18-21), guaranteeing him that his descendants would live in the land. But the expanded form of the promise, which includes numerous descendants and eternal possession of the land, remains to be ratified. This expanded form of the promise is in view here (see vv. 2b, 4-8). See the note at Gen 15:18 and R. B. Chisholm, “Evidence from Genesis,” A Case for Premillennialism, 35-54.

[17:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I will multiply you exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition is emphatic.

[17:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “And Abram fell on his face.” This expression probably means that Abram sank to his knees and put his forehead to the ground, although it is possible that he completely prostrated himself. In either case the posture indicates humility and reverence.

[17:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “God spoke to him, saying.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “I.”

[17:4]  ²² tn Heb “is” (הִנֵּה, hinneh).

[11:19]  ²³ tn Heb “against me.” The words “to kill me” are implicit from the context and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[11:19]  ²⁴ tn The words “I did not know that they were saying” are not in the text. The quote is without formal introduction in the original. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[11:19]  ²⁵ tn This word and its pronoun (לַחְמוֹ, lakhmo, “its bread”) is often emended to read “in/with its sap” = “in its prime” (either לֵחוֹ [lekho] or לֵחְמוֹ [lekhÿmo]); the latter would be more likely and the מוֹ (mo) could be explained as a rare use of the old poetic third plural suffix for the third singular; cf. GKC 258 §91.l for general use and Ps 11:7 and Job 27:23 for third singular use. Though this fits the context nicely the emendation is probably unnecessary since the word “bread” is sometimes used of other foodstuff than grain or its products (cf. BDB 537 s.v. לֶחֶם 2.a).

[11:19]  ²⁶ tn Heb “cut it [or him] off.” The metaphor of the tree may be continued, though the verb “cut off” is used also of killing people. The rendering clarifies the meaning of the metaphor.

[11:19]  ²⁷ tn Heb “so that his name will not be remembered any more.”

[18:23]  ²⁸ sn Heb “Do not blot out their sins from before you.” For this anthropomorphic figure which looks at God’s actions as though connected with record books, i.e., a book of wrongdoings to be punished, and a book of life for those who are to live, see e.g., Exod 32:32, 33, Ps 51:1 (51:3 HT); 69:28 (69:29 HT).

[18:23]  ²⁹ tn Heb “in the time of your anger.”

[26:4]  ³⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[23:14]  ³¹ tn Grk “who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“whom”) was translated by the third person plural pronoun (“them”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.

[23:14]  ³² tn Grk “going.” The participle προσελθόντες (proselqonte") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[23:14]  ³³ sn They went to the chief priests. The fact that the high priest knew of this plot and did nothing shows the Jewish leadership would even become accomplices to murder to stop Paul. They would not allow Roman justice to take its course. Paul’s charge in v. 3 of superficially following the law is thus shown to be true.

[23:14]  ³⁴ tn Or “bound ourselves under a curse.” BDAG 63 s.v. ἀναθεματίζω 1 has “trans. put under a curse τινά someone…pleonastically ἀναθέματι ἀ. ἑαυτόν Ac 23:14…ἀ. ἑαυτόν vss. 12, 21, 13 v.l.” The pleonastic use ἀναθέματι ἀνεθεματίσαμεν (literally “we have cursed ourselves with a curse”) probably serves as an intensifier following Semitic usage, and is represented in the translation by the word “solemn.” On such oaths see m. Nedarim 3:1, 3.

[23:14]  ³⁵ tn This included both food and drink (γεύομαι [geuomai] is used of water turned to wine in John 2:9).

[23:15]  ³⁶ tn Grk “the Sanhedrin” (the Sanhedrin was the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

[23:15]  ³⁷ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 10.

[23:15]  ³⁸ tn Or “decide.” BDAG 227 s.v. διαγινώσκω has “ἀκριβέστερον τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ to make a more thorough examination of his case Ac 23:15.”

[23:15]  ³⁹ tn Grk “determine the things about him.”

[23:15]  ⁴⁰ tn The expression “more thorough inquiry” reflects the comparative form of ἀκριβέστερον (akribesteron).

[23:15]  ⁴¹ sn “We are ready to kill him.” Now those Jews involved in the conspiracy, along with the leaders as accomplices, are going to break one of the ten commandments.

[23:15]  ⁴² tn The words “this place” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[25:3]  ⁴³ tn Grk “Requesting a favor against him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation, the understood direct object of “requesting” has been supplied, and the phrase “to do them” supplied for clarity.

[25:3]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Festus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The words “they urged him” are in v. 2 in the Greek text.

[25:3]  ⁴⁵ sn Planning an ambush. The Jewish leadership had not forgotten the original plan of several years ago (see 23:16). They did not trust the Roman legal process, but preferred to take matters into their own hands.